The Human Factor plays a major role in the security of company data and systems. The
strongest security systems and programs in the world are made and maintained by humans. One
thing that every single human does during their lifetime is make mistakes. It’s these mistakes that
allow attackers to get past even the strongest security.

Social Engineering

Social Engineering is when attackers try to trick someone to give them information or allow them
access to a system they should not have access to. In a perfect world where everyone was
educated on Social Engineering and what to do and what to not do, this would not be an issue.
But we are all Human and part of the Human Factor is that we all make mistakes. This was
evident in the WannaCry ransomware attack that happened in 2017. This ransomware affected
hundreds of thousands of windows computers across the world. This ransomware encrypted your
system until it for the money it was asking for. Microsoft had issued a patch to stop the
ransomware vulnerability but there were many organizations that failed to update their windows
systems. Because of this the ransomware was able to spread long after it was patched.

Limited budget and cybersecurity training.

Not all organizations have unlimited funds to throw at training programs and cybersecurity
protections. Because people will always make mistakes and there will always be attackers crying
to capitalize on those mistakes, my budget would treat each means of cybersecurity as important
as the other. Half of my budget would go towards training programs for employees to teach
about the dangers of social engineering and what they should do to keep them and the
organization safe. The other half would go towards more sophisticated cybersecurity protections.

Conclusion
In conclusion, humans are always going to make mistakes and those mistakes will lead to cyber
threats and attacks. Even the strongest cybersecurity protections are vulnerable to being
bypassed by an unsuspecting employee giving out information or allowing access to the wrong
person. The Human Factor is a very important piece of cybersecurity and companies should
realize the importance of educating their employees on how to stay safe and aware from making
these mistakes.

References

The Human Factor in IT Security: How Employees are Making Businesses Vulnerable from
Within. (n.d.). Kaspersky. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/the-human-factor-in-it-security/
Rosencrance, L. (n.d.). What is WannaCry Ransomware? TechTarget. Retrieved November 21,
2022, from https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/WannaCry-ransomware